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Re: Bruce Pfund, Ugly Boats ('Proboats' magazine)

Bruce Pfund and especially his wife, make some pointed and realistic comments here. It is a trend I have criticized for many years but the major boating market has its own standards, or lack of, to follow in the product they turn out.

One thing I have learned is that some people will tolerate an absurd amount of discomfort, as well as danger, in the quest for style. I used to label such boats as copies of running shoes but that is no longer appropriate as some boats have surpassed shoes in form and swoosh over function.

Re: Bruce Pfund, Ugly Boats ('Proboats' magazine)

Does he name any particular types or designs as being either beautiful or ugly?

To be honest there's many a "character boat" that has the high freeboard and boxy shape we see in many modern boats, and to my eyes the "character boats" aren't greatly improved by common aesthetic features like an oft-exaggerated sheerline or "olde worlds" details.

Re: Bruce Pfund, Ugly Boats ('Proboats' magazine)

Re: Bruce Pfund, Ugly Boats ('Proboats' magazine)

Thank you, Scot.

I find nothing to carp at in Mr. Pfund's article, indeed, the same (and with much less restraint) has been expressed in most, if not all, of WBF's sub-fora.

Owners of thos God-awful 'things' are quite similar to a man I once knew who had a Honda 350 motorcycle, a nice little un-demonstrative get-about which brings to mind the Beach Boys, College days and blond co-eds riding side-saddle.

He, unfortunately, saw Easy Rider and decided that his 350 should become a rival to "Brother Bear's" Harley Sportster... he spent three months and about $9,000 in 1970's money on forks, a neck-rake, a seat, specialty tires, chroming, a peanut-style tank, and actually produced an interesting version of a "chopper". Ahhh.... sure it was.

Well, a couple years pass and he began to grow tired of the "slings and arrows of outraged fortune', as it were, and tried to sell it. NO-ONE was interested in this weird contraption at first (we were, fortunately, still outraged), but he finally sold it to a rich hippie-dippie who rolled it into his discotheque and used it as a prop on the bandstand (it was just the right size).